In Bengal, voters launch search for candidate

BASIRHAT: Under normal circumstances, candidates seek out their voters. In Basirhat North, it is the voters who have launched the search for a particular candidate.
This nameless and faceless candidate has created quite a stir among the traders at the Sunday morning haat in Kholapota. At a roadside carom board game in Bhebia village on Sunday afternoon, discussion swerves from Virat Kohli’s knock at the Eden Gardens the previous night at his mention.
Tarfan Ali Gazi is the most famous (or infamous, depending on which side of political divide you are on) man in Basirhat North today.His candidature in the upcoming election has catapulted him to the bearer of an interesting distinction; that of the only BJP candidate in south Bengal.
Basirhat North from where Gazi is contesting has over 70 percent voters from Muslim community. In the 2014 general election, BJP garnered around 27,000 votes here to be a distant third. In 2011, it could only manage to get a little over 12,000 votes.
West Bengal has around 125 constituencies where Muslim votes are decisive. Out of these 125 seats almost 90 are in south Bengal.
It is in this context that Gazi’s candidature has evoked so much curiosity.
But the voters in the area are not looking for him to express their support or solidarity.
“We are curious to know who this person is who has agreed to contest from a BJP ticket from this area,” says Monirul Gazi, a primary teacher at Matia High School in Basirhat.
“Narendra Modi has promised inclusive growth before becoming the prime minister. Just when we were thinking that BJP has softened its approach towards the Muslim community, the controversy over beef, love jihad and ghar wapsi broke out. I will definitely ask the BJP candidate why we should vote for his party,” said Gazi.
But tracking Tarfan is like going on a wild goose chase. Everybody has heard of his “feat” but nobody seems to have any clue where to find him. Even his party colleagues in Kolkata and Basirhat do not know much about him.
“I am a full time BJP worker for the past 35 years. I have been associated with BJP since 1980. I joined BJP because I was impressed by Atal Bihari Vajpeyi,” Tarfan introduces himself when TOI managed to track him down to Dhanyakuriya village after a search of over 3 hours. Tarfan, 62, is a resident of Hingalgang in North 24 Parganas, has just finished addressing his party workers; less than ten in numbers. It took over 25 minutes to arrange for two flags for the meeting.
Tarfan agrees that it will not be a walk in the park. “We will have to show the people the enormous debt burden that the Trinamool has plunged the state into behind all this cosmetic development,” said the frail and soft spoken Tarpan revealing his campaign strategy.
Basirhat is a border constituency and the discourse of its politics is different from the rest of Bengal. Immigration is a hugely emotive issue in here. The nomination of Gazi has given rise to resentment among BJP’s rank and file within the BJP in the area.
While the BJP state leadership is banking on Gazi to wean away some of Trinamool’s Muslim voters, many in the party alleged the nomination of Gazi may drive away some of their committed voters.
“Let us be clear. Only a miracle will win us Muslim votes here. We have to ask for votes on the issues of migration. But Gazi da may upset that,” said Bratit Das, a district committee member.
In West Bengal, Muslim votes may become a decisive factor in 124 constituencies including Basirhat North. Senior leaders defend their move of fielding Gazi.
“We had plans of fielding several Muslim candidates from areas where the community holds sway. But during the selection of candidates we did not find anybody willing to contest on the BJP ticket. Had we not fielded a single candidate from the community, it would have been embarrassing. Tarfan bhai saved us the blushes in south Bengal,” said a senior leader in BJP who did not wish to be named.
The other two candiadtes are in Abdul Jalil and Yunus Haque in Karandighi and Itahar respectively.